DAILY GK -- MAY 2016 -- 51 TO 100

i. Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd has
became the fourth bank to open its IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at International
Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City
(GIFT) City. IFSC is the India's first and only financial centre.

ii. The bank offers a range of
financial services, transaction banking and also include lending verticals,
manages IPOs, and provides working capital loans. At IBU, the bank expects a
balance sheet of $ 1 billion in the next three years.

iii. The IBU allows an Indian
bank to deliver a complete range of products to its clients with foreign
currency funding requirements. It can offer products such as external
commercial borrowings (ECBs) to its customers.

52. IREDA
may be converted into a Green Bank

i. IREDA, the state run Indian
Renewable Energy Development Agency can be converted into a Green Bank to
enable its access funding from overseas banks. But this will be done without
any alteration in its basic structure.

ii. After conversion into
Green Bank, it would be entitled to avail of certain benefits supported by the
Union Power Ministry.

iii. IREDA, is an arm of the
Indian government. It is a public entities created to work with the private
sector to increase investment in clean energy and bring clean energy financing
into the mainstream. A green bank could offer lower interest charges than
traditional banks and tap into international capital to finance solar and wind
projects to help India power its cities and rural communities.

53. Wilful
defaulters owe Rs 66,000 cr to govt banks

i. The Minister of state for
Finance Jayant Sinha has stated that there were 7,686 wilful defaulters owing
Rs 66,190 crore to state-owned banks as of December 2015.

ii. The number of wilful
defaulters of Public sector banks, (PSBs) rose from 5,554 to 7,686 in three
years to December 2015 while the amount involved more than doubled to Rs 66,190
crore from Rs 27,749 crore.

iii. The total outstanding
amount in top 100 non-performing accounts (NPAs) with PSBs was 1.73 lakh crore
rupees as of December 2015. The total exposure of top 50 defaulters of PSBs as
of December 2015 was Rs 1,21,832 crore. There were 1,365 borrower accounts
having funded outstanding loans of Rs 500 crore and above at the end of 2015.

54. Corp
Bank gets MSME award

i. Corporation Bank has been
awarded ‘excellence award on empowering MSMEs’ by the Federation of Industry,
Trade and Services (FITS).

ii. A press release from the
bank stated that Jai Kumar Garg, Managing Director and CEO of the bank,
received the award from Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister for Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises (MSME), in New Delhi.

iii. It said the bank had
reached the regulatory target of 7 per cent of annual net bank credit under
micro enterprises for 2015-16.

55. ECB
decided to end production and issuance of 500 euro banknote

i. The European Central Bank
(ECB) has announced that it will permanently stop producing the 500 euro
banknote by the end of 2018.

ii. The ECB will also exclude
it from the Europa series, taking into account concerns that this banknote
could facilitate illicit activities.

iii. The issuance of the 500
euro note will be stopped around the end of 2018, when the 100 euro and 200
euro banknotes of the Europa series are planned to be introduced. However, 500
euro banknote, like the other denominations of euro banknotes, will always
retain its value and can be exchanged at the national central banks of the
Eurosystem for an unlimited period of time.

56.
Researchers create World's Smallest Thermometer from DNA

i. The University of Montreal
researchers created a programmable DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) thermometer that
is 20,000x smaller than human hair.

ii. This scientific creation
may significantly aid our understanding of natural and human-designed
nanotechnologies by enabling to measure temperature at the nanoscale.

iii. With this idea,
researchers engineered DNA structures that are capable of folding and unfolding
at specific temperatures making it nano-scale temperature signalling
device. It can help in understanding of natural and human designed
nanotechnologies by enabling to measure temperature at the nanoscale.

57.
Bhupendra Kainthola appointed as Director of FTII

i. Indian Information Service
(IIS) officer Bhupendra Kainthola has been appointed as the Director of Film
and Television Institute of India (FTII) or a term of 3 years.

ii. He replaces Prashant
Pathrabe, who had served as interim Director during the 139-day long strike by
students opposing the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan and four other members of
the FTII Society on the ground of ‘merit’.

iii. He has also worked with
PIB, Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity (DAVP), Directorate of Film Festival
(as Director, National Film Awards and Indian Panorama) and also with the Lok
Sabha Television.

58. Mexican
diplomat Patricia Espinosa selected as the next Executive Secretary of UNFCCC

i. Mexican diplomat Patricia
Espinosa selected as the next executive secretary of UNFCCCUN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon has selected Mexico's ambassador to Germany, Patricia Espinosa, as
the executive secretary of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change).

ii. She will replace the
incumbent Christiana Figueres when her term ends in July.

iii. She will play an
important role in implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change that was
approved by 195 countries in Paris, France. Earlier she had served as Mexico’s
representative at the UN in New York for drug traffic, human rights, women
promotion, social development and children’s rights.

59. Swiss honour
for Yash Chopra

i. Late director Yash Chopra,
who captured the verdant Swiss valley in his films, has been honoured with a
special statue by the Switzerland government. The statue was inaugurated on
Wednesday.

ii. A sculpture made of pure
bronze, and weighing about 350 kilos, will present Yash Chopra in an iconic
pose of him directing a film.

iii. The statue will be
installed at the heart of Interlaken, inside the KURSAAL area, near the
Congress Centre. A prime, popular spot with tourists, the statue will remind
many of the cinematic splendour that Yash Chopra had created for this
picturesque nation.

60. Seven
Indian shuttlers qualify for Rio Olympics

i. Seven Indian shuttlers have
booked their berth for the upcoming Rio Olympics, scheduled in August.

ii. The list includes two
female singles players in Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, a male singles' player in
Kidambi Srikanth, women's doubles pairing of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa
while Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy make up the male doubles team.

iii. It is the biggest
badminton contingent India would be fielding at the quadrennial Games. T

61. Bankruptcy Bill passed in Lok Sabha

i. The Lok Sabha has passed
the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Bill 2016, which is seen as a
“transformational” legislation that will help to improve India’s ranking
in the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index.

ii. It aims to defuse the
crisis of the looming bad loans in the banking sector and also to cover
individuals, companies, and partnership firms.

iii. The bill proposes setting
up of an Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Fund.

62. Railway
minister launches new train services for J&K

i. Railway Minister of India
Suresh Prabhu remotely flagged off two new train services for Jammu and Kashmir
from the Rail Bhawan in New Delhi.

ii. These trains will ply on
the Banihal-Baramulla-Budgam route.

iii. The rail line in the
Kashmir Valley was constructed in a phased programme with the Railway gradually
commissioning rail sections in different stages. The rail-link from
Banihal to Katra, connecting Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country, is
expected to be completed by 2020.

i. Harita-Priya Agriculture
Project of Andhra Pradesh has won the prestigious World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS) 2016 prize in the e-Agriculture category.

ii. International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) Secretary-General Houlin Zhao announced the
prize in Geneva. The project is developed by the Centre for Development of
Advanced Computing (CDAC) in Anantpur district, Hyderabad.

iii. Harita-Priya (Harmonized
Information of Agriculture, Revenue and Irrigation for a Transformation Agenda
– Precision Technology for Agriculture) project is meant to collect very
specific climate data from farms and give farmers personalized information
through SMS. The data is used to create advisories and alerts on
irrigation schedules and pests and plant diseases.

64. Cabinet
apprised IT agreement between India and Qatar

i. The Union Cabinet has
apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Qatar for
promoting bilateral cooperation in the field of Information Communication
Technology (ICT).

ii. The Union Cabinet Meeting
chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi has taken the decision on
this cooperation. Earlier, in March, 2015, both the countries has signed
this MoU than later ratified by both the countries on 1st January, 2016
and 12th January, 2016 respectively.

iii. The MoU covers, active
cooperation and exchanges between the private entities, capacity building
institutions, Governments and other public organisations in the field of
Telecom and IT.

65. SBI
launches card-less payment solution for offline transactions

i. The country's largest bank,
State Bank Of India has launched a mobile payment solution that will enable
customers to make digital payments at offline stores by scanning a QR
(quick response) code on their smartphones at merchant outlets.

iii. The service is launched
in Bangaluru with a sizable number of merchants and will soon expand into other
cities. The service will be available to all SBI credit card, debit card
and net banking users. The Bank customers can simply download the latest
version of SBI Anywhere application from Google Play Store.

66. ICICI
first Indian bank to partner with New Development Bank

i. The largest private sector
bank of India, ICICI bank has become the first financial institution in the
country to tie up with the New Development Bank to explore opportunities
around bond issuance, co-financing, treasury management and human resources.

ii. The decision to consider
each other as preferred partner to work in the aforementioned areas has been
taken by the head of New Development Bank, Mr. K V Kamath.

ii. This MoU would help NDB in
exploring bond issuance opportunities in the Indian and international bond
markets, particularly in rupee-denominated bonds.

ii. The startup company is founded
by Saurabh Nangia and Rahul Singh in March 2013 which helps manage customer
life cycle through personalization, targeting and big data
analytics.

iii. In 2014, TargetingMantra
raised $1.1 million in seed funding led by 500 Startups and others.

68.
Zimbabwe to print own version of US dollar

i. Zimbabwe is all set to
introduce its own version of US dollars in order to ease a cash shortage in the
country.

ii. The governor of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, John Mangudya has stated that the bank will introduce
the note of $2, $5, $10, and $20, which will hold the same value as their
US dollar counterparts.

iii. Earlier in 2009, Zimbabwe
introduced the US dollar after ditching its own currency following sustained
hyperinflation. Since then Zimbabweans have been using the dollar. The new
notes will come in circulation within the next two months.

69. Google
partners Idea for direct carrier billing

i. Google has entered into a
partnership with telecommunications major Idea Cellular to offer direct carrier
billing in India.

ii. Idea users would now be
able to make purchases on Google Play Store directly through their postpaid and
prepaid accounts.

iii. Costs for the same will
be charged through monthly bills and phone balance respectively.

70. Indian
professor wins Commonwealth short story regional prize

i. Indian author and Social
Science professor from India Prashar Kulkarni has won the Commonwealth Short
Story Prize for 2016, in the Asia region for his "politically
grounded, funny" fiction ‘Cow and Company’ about four men in search of a
cow.

ii. The short story was
adjudged the ‘best piece of unpublished short fiction in English’ from Asia and
will receive 2500 pounds prize.

iii. Now Mr. Kulkarni will
complete with winners from other four regions- Africa, Cananda and Europe,
Carribbean and the Pacific for the 5000 pounds grand prize. The prize for
this will be announced at the Calabash International Literary Festival in
Jamaica in June 2016.

71. Sudhir
Yadav Is New Tihar Director-General

i. Sudhir Yadav, the 1985
batch IPS officer of the Delhi police, was appointed as the new
Director-General (DG) of Tihar.

ii. An order issued by the Lt
Governor announced Yadav's appointment as the next DG of Tihar.

iii. Earlier, he served as
Special Commissioner of the Delhi police. Yadav had earlier served as DGP of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2013. Earlier, the government had appointed
JK Sharma as new DG of Tihar on April 19, but the order was nullified as the
government had not sought prior approval of Lt Governor Najeeb Jung before
the appointment.

72. Kumar
Rajesh Chandra Appointed Aviation Security Wing Chief

i. Senior IPS officer Kumar
Rajesh Chandra has appointed as chief of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security
(BCAS), the aviation security wing of the government, over 3 years after
the post fell vacant.

ii. The Appointments Committee
of the Cabinet has approved the name of Chandra, a 1985 batch IPS officer of
Bihar cadre, for appointment to the post of Director General (formerly
known as Commissioner of Security Civil Aviation) in the Bureau of
Civil Aviation Security, an order issued by Department of Personnel and
Training.

iii. He has been appointed in
the place of IPS officer G S Malhi, who had completed his tenure as BCAS chief
in November 2012. The crucial post was lying vacant since then.

i. Renowned musician Angelique
Kidjo along with three inspirational African youth activist movements have been
declared the joint winners of the prestigious Amnesty International top
2016 human rights award.

ii. The award will be shared
between the singer and the activist groups Y’en a marre from Senegal, le Balai
Citoyen from Burkina Faso and Lutte pour le Changement (LUCHA) from DRC.
All will be honoured at the awards ceremony in Dakar, Senegal, on 28 May.

iii. Last year it was awarded
to Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and American singer-songwriter Joan Baez.

74. Rohit
Sharma unveils India's first sports expo

i. Indian batsman Rohit Sharma
has inaugurated India's first sports expo in Pune.

ii. It is the first sports
expo being held in the country organised by city-based Steps Sports
Entertainment Private Limited and will be open for public till May 8.

iii. It is organised to showcase
various products and modern technologies for fitness and sports by Indian as
well as multinational brands.

75. India
finish fourth in junior shooting World Cup

i. The Indian squad ended
their campaign at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior
World Cup with a creditable fourth place finish in the medal’s
table.

ii. The Indian juniors had an
overall tally of three gold, four silver and three bronze medals in the
competition which ended on Thursday.

iii. Italy topped the medals
tally with seven gold, four silver and one bronze in their kitty. Russia were
second with five gold, six silver and nine bronze while Germany finished
third with five gold, three silver and three bronze medals. A total of 585
shooters from 48 countries participated in the event, but only 24
countries made it to the medals table.

76. Enda Kenny re-elected as Ireland's
prime minister

i. Enda Kenny has been
re-elected as Ireland's Taoiseach, leading his Fine Gael party into a minority
government.

ii. Mr Kenny is the first Fine
Gael leader in history to secure two terms in power back to back. He secured
the support of a diverse group of independents and managed to strike a deal
with opposition party Fianna Fail.

iii. He will now lead a
minority government after traditional adversaries in Fianna Fail - enemies
since the civil war 90 years ago - agreed to prop up his administration by
abstaining in the crucial vote and supporting a selection of policies including
on water bills and housing.

77. President
presents Gallantry Awards and Distinguished Service Decorations to Defence
personnel

i. President Pranab Mukherjee
has presented Gallantry Awards and Distinguished Service Decorations to Defence
personnel at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

i. The eight nations composing
the South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children, SAIEVAC, are
assembling in New Delhi next week for their 4th Ministerial Meeting.

ii. The meeting will set
strategies and agree on commitments to ensure the protection and security of
the children of the region. It is being hosted by the Ministry of Child and
Women Development. The Ministerial meeting on 11th of this month will be
preceded by a two day technical consultation focusing on critical issues of
child protection and violence in the region.

iii. Delegates from the
governments and civil society organizations of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will assess progress and
developments of the past decade of regional effort and identify priorities for
SAIEVAC for the next five years. The Minister of Women and Child Development,
Maneka Gandhi, will chair the meeting.

79. Union
government approves proposal of Infosys to set up IT SEZ

i. The Union government has
approved the of Infosys to set up an IT/ITeS special economic zone (SEZ) in
Bengaluru in an area spread over 4 hectares.

ii. The decision has been
taken by the Union inter-ministerial Board of Approval (BoA), headed by
Commerce Secretary Rita Teatia.

iii. The Board also granted
more time to 20 developers to complete their projects. Those that got
additional time include Mayar Infrastructure Development for a biotechnology
SEZ in Haryana, Wipro for IT SEZ in Karnataka and Vedanta for its
sector-specific SEZ for manufacturing and exports of aluminium in Odisha. The
board has also approved application of Unitech Realty Project.

ii. It was launched by the
Governor of Goa, Mridula Sinha, in the presence of GSl and ICG officials.

iii. ICGS Shaurya is fifth of
a series of six Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) designed in-house and built by
GSL. The vessel is 105-metre long and is capable of cruising at a speed of 23
knots. It has a range of 6000 nautical miles. ICGS Shaurya will be commissioned
into service in 2017. It will be deployed for search and rescue operations,
pollution control and external firefighting. It will also be deployed for
monitoring sea lanes of communication and ocean surveillance.

81. Nepal
recalls its Ambassador to India over charges of non-cooperation

i. Nepal has recalled its
Ambassador to India over charges of non-cooperation and indulging in
anti-government activities.

iii. The conversation between
Oli and Upadhyaya reportedly took place after the cancellation of the
President's trip. Bhandari was scheduled to visit India from May 9 as the state
guest at the invitation of President Pranab Mukherjee.

82.
Australian university signed two MoU With India to provide medical technology

i. Australian state of
Victoria, Swinburne University has announced two agreements with India in the
area of medical technology to address major health challenges in India.

ii. The decision has been
taken during the meeting of government-led Neuroscience Victoria trade mission
to India.

iii. The one agreement has
signed to improve the diagnosis of epilepsy across India with Medanta, one of
India's largest private hospitals. The second agreement has signed with the
prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to develop a
cutting edge 'smart helmet' to reduce the incidence of head injuries for
motorcyclists.

83
Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines to conduct joint water patrols to curb
kidnappings

i. Malaysia, Indonesia and the
Philippines has agreed to conduct coordinated sea patrols and establish a
hotline to combat piracy and kidnappings in waters bordering the three
nations.

ii. The agreement will be
signed by the foreign ministers of the countries in Yogyakarta,
Indonesia.

iii. The decision has been
taken after the recent kidnapping of 10 Indonesian sailors in the southwestern
Philippines by Abu Sayyaf. However, the sailors were released on 1 May 2016.
The group Abu Sayyaf is considered very violent and was responsible for the
Philippines' worst terrorist attack, the bombing of Super ferry 14 in 2004,
which killed 116 people.

84. India
and Japan to sign MOU for Cooperation in Sports

i. India and Japan has decided
to exchange sports persons, coaches, experts and administrators to improve the
standard of the game between both nations.

ii. Both the nations has also
agreed to play some friendly matches before the Under 17 World Cup tournament,
as India is going to host the Under 17 World Cup tournament.

iii. The decision has been
taken during a meeting between both the countries delegates. Indian minister
for Youth Affairs & Sports, Mr. Sarbananda Sonowal has also got the
invitation for attending World Forum on Sport and Culture" to be held in
October 2016 in Tokyo.

85. YES
Bank gets SEBI nod to provide custodian services

i. India's fifth largest
Private sector lender Yes Bank has received a ‘Custodian of Securities’ licence
from the markets regulator SEBI to allows the entity to offer custodial
services to financial market participants, including FIIs and foreign portfolio
investors (FPIs).

ii. The bank has given a year
to establish the business by developing the operational, tech and human capital
capabilities. The bank had earlier received the RBI’s approval to enter the CoS
business.

iii. Once it receives the
final nod, it can offer custodial services to financial market participants,
including foreign portfolio investors which would help its fee-based income.

86.
Facebook and NASSCOM sign MoU to Support Start-Ups

i. Facebook and the trade body
of Indian IT firms 'National Association of Software and Services Companies
(NASSCOM)' has signed an agreement to build a product design initiative to
engage the country's young entrepreneurs into becoming problem solvers and
solution builders.

ii. This MoU is likely to
propel innovative thinking and approaches to build solutions in key sectors
where technology can play a transformational role.

iii. The idea is to ensure
that at least 500 plus product start-ups get enabled tools programs, more than
5,000 design thinking professionals to get paid and at least 50 or more award
winning product should come out of this whole initiative.

87.
Flipkart to launch its own map services

i. The e-commerce giant
Flipkart has partnered with a Bangaluru based social technology company
'MapUnity' to launch its map services. ii. The network will cover the 126
cities including those chosen in the 'Smart Cities' mission. The company
service will help Flipkart in handling logistics, supply chain and promotes
public engagement in solving the key problems of metropolitan areas.

iii. Flipkart confirms that
the project will be driven by the MapUnity as well as by a Delhi based digital
mapping company MapMyIndia. The acquisition of MapMy India has taken place in
December, 2015. As per Flipkart, this will be a platform that cross-uses drives
innovation, features, value.

88. Ghosh
named as next ambassador to Tajikistan

i. Somnath Ghosh has been
appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Tajikistan. He has
so far served in Russia, Tajikistan, Belgium (European Union Headquarters) and
Bangladesh.

ii. He also handled various
desks in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.

iii. Before joining
Ulaanbaatar, he was Assistant High Commissioner of India in Chittagong,
Bangladesh.

89. Mickey Arthur appointed as Pakistan cricket team's head coach

i. In Pakistan, former South
African cricketer and coach for PSL's Karachi Kings, Mickey Arthur, has been
appointed as cricket team's head coach. Confirmed the Pakistan Cricket
Board.

ii. The post was left vacant
after Waqar Younis resigned following Pakistan’s disastrous World Twenty20
performance in India, where they triumphed in only one of four matches before
crashing out.

iii. Pakistan’s search for a
new national coach hit a fresh roadblock on Thursday as officials said their
top pick, Australia’s Stuart Law, turned down the offer to coach the team.

ii. In the final match of the
tournament, in which Iran, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal also participated,
Pakistan defeated arch rivals India by 50-31.

iii. Pakistan has won the
third edition of the Asian Kabaddi Championship 2016 (Circle Style) by
defeating India. This is Pakistan’s second successive win in the Asian Kabaddi
title as they had won it in 2012. The championship was organised by the
Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) in collaboration with POF Sports Control
Board under the banner of the Asian Kabaddi Federation.

ii. The biography has been authored by film journalist Aseem
Chhabra and with forword by Karan Johar. It unveils the chapters of actor’s
personal and professional life.

About
Shashi Kapoor

Born as Balbir Raj Prithviraj Kapoor on March 18,
1938 in Kolkata, West Bengal.

Started acting in films as a child in late 1940s.
Since then he has appeared in 160 movies altogether, 12 being in English
and the rest in Hindi. Advertisement

His Bollywood debut as a lead actor was in the film
Dharmputra (1961). His best known performances as child artist were in Aag
(1948), Awaara (1951) and Sangram (1950).

He is also best-known for his performances in Hindi
films like ‘Jab Jab Phool Khile’, ‘Deewar’, ‘Waqt’, ‘Trishul’, ‘Utsav’and
‘Kabhi Kabhie’.

He also acted in American and British films. They
are The Householder (1963), Shakespeare Wallah (1965), Bombay Talkie
(1970), Heat and Dust (1982), The Deceivers (1988), Side Streets (1998)
etc.

Apart from acting in movies, he also had worked as a
film director, assistant director and film producer.

92. SpaceX
successfully launches Japanese JCSAT-14 Satellite

i. US based private space transport service company, SpaceX
has successfully launched Japanese JCSAT-14 communication satellite into the space.

ii. The satellite was place into its intended preliminary
geostationary transfer orbit by SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket which was launched from
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, US.

iii. After meeting its primary goal of the mission, the SpaceX
Falcon 9 rocket successfully landed on an ocean (floating) platform, known as a
drone ship, off the coast of Florida.

iv. This is for the second time in row the reusable main
stage booster of Falcon 9 rocket successfully landed on offshore floating platform
after the April 8, 2016 landing.

About
JCSAT-14 Satellite

JCSAT-14 Satellite is owned by Sky Perfect JSAT
Corporation. The satellite will boost the company’s fleet of relay
stations to 17.

The satellite is built by Space Systems/Loral and is
equipped with 26 C-band and 18 Ku-band transponders.

93. ICICI
Bank signs MoU with BRICS’s New Development Bank

i. India’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has
inked a MoU with the BRICS Grouping-promoted New Development Bank (NDB) for a
partnership in bond issuances, co-financing, treasury management and human
resources.

ii. With this ICICI Bank becomes first financial institution
in the country to tie up with the BRICS Grouping-promoted NDB. The MoU was
signed by BDB’s first President and ICICI Bank veteran KV Kamath and ICICI Bank
Chief Chanda Kochhar in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Key
facts

The MoU will help NDB in exploring rupee-denominated
bonds in the domestic and international markets.

It will make both the lenders collaborate to fund
development projects in India.

They will also leverage a mutually beneficial
partnership in other areas such as treasury risk management, human
resource development and account and cash management services.

The MoU will help NDB to leverage the deep market access
and insight of ICICI Bank in the India’s financial markets.

About New Development
Bank

NDB is a multilateral development bank promoted by
BRICS nations viz. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It is
outcome of 6th BRICS Summit being held in Fortaleza, Brazil.

It is headquartered in Shanghai, China. It will have
a regional office in Johannesburg, South Africa.

NDB began its operations in July 2015 with an
initial capital of 100 billion dollars.

The goal of the bank is to fund infrastructure
projects in emerging economies for sustainable development.

In the NDB, each participant country has been
assigned one vote, and none of the countries have veto power.

94. Switzerland
Government honours Yash Chopra with special statue

i. Switzerland Government has honoured late veteran
filmmaker Yash Chopra by unveiling bronze statue at Interlaken.

ii. The bronze statue weighing about 250 kilos was
inaugurated by his wife Pamela Chopra and daughter-in-law Rani Mukerjee.

iii. Chopra was known for opening a legacy of South Asian
tourists flocking to Switzerland and spend much time in the country besides
shooting his movies.

iv. This statue has been installed at the heart of
Interlaken, inside the Kursaal area near the Congress Centre which is a prime,
popular spot with tourists.

v. This is not the first time the filmmaker has been
honoured in this way by the Switzerland Government. Earlier in 2011, government
of Interlaken awarded him the honorary title of Ambassador of Interlaken and
Jungfrau Railways had named a train after him – an honour shared only with the
railway’s founder, Adolf Guyer.

95. India’s single emergency number ‘112’
to be active from January 1

i. The single emergency number
‘112‘ will be operational throughout India from January 1, 2017 to help people
reach immediate services of police, ambulance and fire department.

ii. Telecom minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad has approved the provision of a single number for various
emergency services that would be similar to the ‘911’ all-in-one emergency
service in the US.

iii. The service will also be
accessible even through those SIMs and landlines whose outgoing call facility
has been stopped or temporarily suspended. People will be able to feed ‘112’ in
panic button system which will also be available on all mobile phones from
January 1 under law. The panic button will enable users to make emergency call
or send alerts to multiple numbers just by pressing a button.

96. India
ranks ninth among crony capitalist nations

i. India is ranked at the
ninth position in crony-capitalism with crony sector wealth accounting for 3.4
per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

ii. In India, the non-crony
sector wealth amounts to 8.3 per cent of the GDP, as per the latest
crony-capitalism index. In the 2014 ranking also, India stood at the ninth
place.

iii. Among the 22 countries in
the updated index, Germany is the cleanest with least number of crony
capitalists, ranking at the bottom of the index, while China has the biggest
concentration of crony wealth in the world at $360 billion.

i. To mark the 155th birth
anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore a five day cultural festival has been
organised by India in Cairo, Egypt.

ii. It is with the objective
to build connections between the people of the two countries who share strong
cultural bonds.

iii. The Embassy of India in
Cairo and Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture are hosting the Tagore
Festival from 8th May to May 12. The Tagore festival was inaugurated by India's
Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya in Cairo with a painting exhibition
showcasing works of artists from Egypt, India and other countries.

ii. Comprising 10 coaches, the
train begins the “East Darshan” on May 8 from Chandigarh and travelling from
Delhi Cantonment to cover Jagannath Puri, Gangasagar, Baidyanath Dham, Gaya,
Banaras and Ayodhya. The bookings are being done by IRCTC and it has firmed up
a budget-friendly package for pilgrims.

iii. According to the package,
a person has to pay Rs 830 per day to selected destinations in the east or
south of the country or packages that cover major religious sites. Bharat
Darshan will also cover “7 Jyotirlinga” package beginning on May 23 from
Chandigarh through Delhi Cantonment will cover Ujjain (Omkareshwar and
Mahakaleshwar), Dwarka (Nageshwar), Veraval (Somnath), Aurangabad
(Grishneshwar) and Nasik (Bhimashankar and Triyambakeshwar).

99. GOI
starts UBIN drive for budding entrepreneurs

i. The Government of India has
started the process for issuance by Unique Business Identification Number
(UBIN) drive.

ii. It will help enable
budding entrepreneurs to set up their business without any delays as it produce
results well within targeted time and its no longer business as usual in India.

iii. The drive has been
launched by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) under
the aegis of Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry. This portal will be
automatically linked to Ministry Of Corporate Affairs (MCA) portal after it is
issued to the intended beneficiary. The move is seen as a major step towards
ease of doing business and the start-up India initiative of the government

i. The Minister for micro,
small and medium enterprises (MSME) Kalraj Mishra has inaugurated a spinning
and weaving centre and marketing plaza for khadi goods in Srinagar.

ii. At the centre — Harmukh
Khadi Gram Udyog Sansthan — Mishra also distributed 25 model charkhas among
local artisans at a function. iii. The event was organised by Khadi and Village
Industries Board, Srinagar.